Improvement in buckles



UNITED STATES JOSIAl-I SHEPARD, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT.

llVIPROVEMENT IN UCMLE.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, JosIAH SHEPARD, of New Britain, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and Improved Buckle for Harnesses and Like Purposes, and I do hereby declare that the following isa full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specilication, in which- Figure l is a face View of my invention applied to a strap 5 Fig. 2, a longitudinal section ofthe same, taken in the line or fr, Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a detached face or side view of the same; Fig. 4, a longitudinal section of Fig. 3, taken in the line y y.

Similar letters of teference indicate like parts.

The object of this invention is to obtain a buckle for harnesses and similar purposes which will admit of being' directly applied without any stitching ot the strap or straps to which it is to be attached, and at the same time serve to form a secure connection, and one which will admit of the straps which it connects being readily detached when necessary, while the straps will not be in the least weakened or damaged by its application and use, as is the case with the ordinary tonguebuckle.

Arepresents wh at may be termed a case,of flat, cylindrical, or other form to correspond with the straps to which it is to be applied. This case is composed of two parallel sides,e a, connected attheirends, at both edges, by plates b. A rectangular at caseis shown in the drawings for :dat straps B. Within this case .A there is fitted on pivots c a plate, @,the pivots being at the center of each side ofthe plate C. The pivots c pass through the sides a a ofthe case, and the plate G is allowed to turn or work freely thereon.

From each side of the plate U a pin, d, projects, and these pins are about equidistant from the pivots c, at opposite sides ot' them, there beinga pin near each end of the plate, as shown clearly in Figs. 2 and 4. The plate C does not extend quite as far as the end plates, b, of the case.

The strap or straps are provided with holes e to receive the pins d,the straps being passed through the case at opposite sides of the plate C, as shown clearly in Fig. v2.

Thus it will be seen that two straps maybe connected together by my invention without any stitching of the strap or straps, and the latter consequently will not be injured by being doubled or bent in loop form, as is the case with the ordinary tongue-buckle. The connection is also a secure one, and the device may be very readily applied to and detached from the straps, and one strap may be detached without loosening the buckle from the other.

The device, it will also be seen, does not project any distance from the straps, and consequently it will not abrade any adjoining surfaces or parts.

I would remark that the plate C is pivoted within the ease A in order to prevent it from becoming lost. It would answer in other respects equally well if it were loose in the case A.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent* The case A, in combination with the plate G, provided with pins d d at opposite sides, all arranged substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

JOSIAH SHEPARD.

Wfitnesses J. R. HALL, WM. T. MCNAMARA. 

